26-year-old Ched Evans served two-and-a-half years in prison for raping a 19-year-old girl. Before that, Evans was a professional soccer player for Manchester City in the English Premier League, one of the top soccer leagues in the world. Having served his sentence, Evans is ostensibly free to sign with a new team. But fans are outraged and trying to stop any club from signing him. One of the chief objections is that Evans has never admitted his guilt in the crime, nor has he expressed remorse.
Oldham Athletic is one of the English clubs currently considering hiring Evans. It would be a major demotion for Evans–Oldham is a fourth tier team, while Manchester City is the Premier League defending champion. But fans erupted in protest about Evans playing even at this level. At least 30,000 fans signed a petition asking the club not to sign him. Oldham has delayed an action for now. This follows a similar action where more than 165,000 people signed a petition to protest the possibility that Evans would sign with Sheffield United–a third tier team. Sheffield relented.